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02 September 2008

The First Day of School

This is my eleventh year of teaching. Nonetheless, as ever, the first day looms as something both terrifying and exciting. This year is terrifying for new reasons, most having to do with teaching college for the first time, but last year was a very different environment, too, and I adjusted to that well enough. After the first class or two, the terror will go away, and probably some of the excitement, too, as we settle into a routine, but the unknown is always nerve-wracking.

I've spent much of this week preparing for classes. If you're curious about the sorts of things I'm doing, I've put some information up here. Those pages will grow and change over time, of course, and at least one of them is mostly a placeholder right now, waiting for me to get more time to add to it.

Meanwhile, if you're looking for something to watch, Reprise came out on DVD today in the U.S. I've got it on my Netflix list and will be curious to see if I respond to it as strongly now as I did when I saw it in the spring, when it was, for reasons that are somewhat mysterious to me, exactly the movie I needed.

Also, the Great and Glorious Hannah Tinti, editor extraordinaire of One Story, has welcomed her first novel into the world: The Good Thief. I bought a copy at a local bookstore; if it's made it to New Hampshire, it ought to be just about everywhere by now. I hate going into a book with huge expectations, but Hannah's just about the best editor I've ever worked with, and I loved her story collection Animal Crackers, so it's impossible for me not to expect marvels and wonders galore. We shall see...